Former cricketer Suresh Raina has found a resemblance between the stroke-playing ability of New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra and Indian captain Rohit Sharma.
Ravindra has been in sublime form since arriving in India for the ICC ODI World Cup. He pulled off a blazing start to the campaign with a century against England. Since then, the Southpaw has notched two more hundreds and a couple of half-centuries. Having aggregated 565 runs in 9 league matches, Ravindra is currently third on the list of the leading run-scorers in this World Cup. He has a batting average of over 70, which is higher than that of the second-placed Quinton de Kock.
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Referring to his power-packed batting, Raina showered immense praise on Ravindra ahead of New Zealand’s semi-final match against India, scheduled to be hosted at Mumbai’s Wakhede Stadium on Wednesday. According to Raina, the Kiwi batter can singlehandedly change the course of the game, apart from building the foundation during the initial overs.
“Ravindra is a local boy from Bangalore and has been hitting the ball like Rohit Sharma and has been changing the course of the game,” the ex-Indian batter said on India Today’s ‘Battle of Champions’ show.
Raina further spoke about another New Zealand opener, Devon Conway, during the interaction. Similar to Rachin Ravindra, Conway showed his class in the tournament opener against England in Ahmedabad. He played an unbeaten 152-run knock, which was laced with as many as 19 boundaries and 3 sixes. Despite putting up a top-notch performance in the first game, Conway failed to continue the momentum in the subsequent fixtures and could not even register a single fifty.
Raina, however, feels Conway will return to form in the knockout games as he has already proven himself as a big-match player. To give logic to his speculation, Raina mentioned Conway’s performance for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the last edition’s final against Gujarat Titans, Conway scored a quickfire 47 off 25 deliveries. It was the highest score from the CSK unit.
“Conway is a big match-winner and we have seen that in the IPL. We saw that he scored a century against England. He looks solid and plays all around the ground. He plays spin well and reads the situation well. He hasn’t been scoring but has always done well in big games,” Raina explained.
In his 9 appearances in the World Cup, Conway has racked up 359 runs at an average of 44.87. He is the third-highest scorer for New Zealand, following Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell.
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